In the last few decades, managerial and business studies have shown an increasing inability to explain and forecast emergent dynamics in society, economics, and the environment. Consolidated managerial approaches and business theories seem to be incapable of communicating and depicting the ongoing evolution, and new perspectives are required to support both researchers and practitioners in tracing new paths for development. Building upon the constructivist approach, this book illustrates the multiple advantages that systems thinking can offer in supporting a holistic understanding of social and economic phenomena. The book proposes a representation of the firm as a viable system and represents its functioning and decision-making processes trough a recursive depiction that can be applied for each of the multiple levels through which socio-economic environments are defined. As a result of the focus on the differences between decision making and problem-solving processes, the book enriches current knowledge about systems thinking and provides useful instruments through which both researchers and practitioners can effectively understand the multiple variables able to influence decisions and actions within a firm’s configuration. The book is aimed at both postgraduate students and researchers interested in the multiple dimensions of systems thinking.

A major challenge of our times is to understand and manage the increasing complexity of socio-economic reality. This has immediate relevance for sustainable development. The impact of recent contributions from systems and complexity sciences in addressing this issue has not filtered down into effective practice ? notably, there remain problems caused by the legacy of competing paradigms and the application of their associated methodologies. This book argues the urgency for the application of analytical tools that embody the principles of complexity management. The authors describe a theoretical framework based on complexity science with a focus on organisational and second order cybernetics, one that presents a powerful new insight into the concept of sustainability. The book also describes actual applications of the ideas in the area of organisational, societal and environmental management, and reflects upon the impact of such an approach on current practice.

This book concerns the management of social organizations, offering ways to think about complex situations. It will be of interest to management scientists, organization experts, information scientists and computer experts.

How can organizations and their managers face the tremendous complexity of the current environment? How can their compliance with the requirements of sustainability be evaluated? And how can new organizations be structured to ensure their viability? This book addresses these questions in a very practical way, essentially combining systems theory with cybernetics to help managers to evaluate and shape organizations by making accessible the wealth of knowledge contained in these fields. Importantly, it also provides guidelines for its practical application.

Organizational Systems clarifies the application of cybernetic ideas, particularly those of Beer's Viable System Model, to organizational diagnosis and design. Readers learn to appreciate the relevance of seeing the systemic coherence of the world. The book argues that many of the problems we experience today are routed in our practice of fragmenting that needs to be connected as a whole. It offers a method to study and design organizations and a methodology to deal with implementation problems. It is the outcome of many years of working experience with government offices as well as with all kinds of public and private enterprises. At a more detailed level this book offers an in depth discussion of variety engineering that is not available either in the primary or secondary literature.

In a world of increasing complexity, instant information availability and constant flux, systems approaches provide the opportunity of a tangible anchor of purpose and iterate learning. The five approaches outlined in the book offer a range of interchangeable tools with rigorous frameworks of application tried and tested in the ‘real world’. The frameworks of each approach form a powerful toolkit to explore the dynamics of how societies emerge, how organisations create viability, how to facilitate chains of argument through causal mapping, how to embrace a multiplicity of perspectives identifying purposeful activity and how to look for the bigger picture across multiple disciplines. Systems Approaches offers an excellent first introduction for those seeking to understand what ‘systems thinking’ is all about as well as why the tools discussed herein should be applied to management and professional practice. This book provides a practical guide, and the chapters stand alone in explaining and developing each approach.